6 ms·
This is evidence that we are exporting some toxic memes out of California that cause young people all over the world to try to kill themselves to do what we do
by jes5199 12y ago
This is evidence that we are exporting some toxic memes out of California that cause young people all over the world to try to kill themselves to do what we do here with no understanding of what's going on.
- AndrewKemendo 12y agoIt's what The USA does best: spread our ideas. That doesn't mean they are all good or that there are good outcomes. I have seen first hand that Coca-cola isn't just a soda and Friends is what a good portion of the near east thinks new yorkers are really like.
- michalsobel 12y agoWell the idea of doing something that helps people solve tehir problems is good idea. I just didn't get it right.
- LargeCompanies 12y agoUmmm, there's hundred to thousands of similar stories out in the valley and throughout the nation. Start-up success stories are a minority, so this story isn't that out of the ordinary. THough 11 projects. That is a large number. I'm On my 2nd and half since 2008. My war wounds/stories run from being invited to demo our tech to a huge entity in the valley who baited us out there with promises to buy our tech (they squashed like a bug after spilling our secret) to seeing an original idea i created 6 years finally take off via a European start-up (they have $3 million in funding & millions of users). I'm too old for this pain!
- michalsobel 12y agoI totally understand. And good luck! :)
- jdietrich 12y agoSpot on - OP's blog sounded like textbook cargo cultism, imitating the superficial aspects of the SV startup scene (which in itself is fairly cargo cultish). He has learned all the right grandiose rhetoric, but seems to lack the most rudimentary understanding of how a business operates, let alone something as weird as a VC-backed startup. It looks like we're right back to the bad old days of the dot-com bubble, where there's a total disconnect between the word "startup" and building a business that creates meaningful value for customers. His idea of a startup seems to map exactly to the old joke: 1) Get funded. 2) Build an UberFaceCrowd clone. 3) ??? 4) Profit!
- michalsobel 12y agoI know, and you're right.
- mgkimsal 12y agoWhat was strange is that... after all that struggle, they seemed to hit on a better idea, and the investors (?) dismissed it, and told them to continue to build the original clone which was clearly not working. Always annoys me when people who don't know how to do something are adamant that doing what you recommend will "take too long". I don't hit to too much in my own work right now, but plenty of colleagues hit that on a regular basis. "Well, we can't do XYZ because the management said someone else said that would take too long, so we need to finish ABC". WTF? ABC has been in dev for 18 months, is clearly broken, and ... XYZ is a half-done skunkworks project that needs 3 more weeks. Non-workers who hide behind "that will take too long" need to learn to clearly pronounce "I'm threatened by your knowledge/ability/insight." At least be honest.
- Mandatum 12y agoMy guess is existing investors are going to try and peddle the product to less knowledgeable investors and cash out. Instead of risking existing investment on an entirely new product, cut your losses.
- michalsobel 12y agoI feel you. On the other hand I understand that it is a business. So the business thinking is „not to throw away what you do last 18 month“. But as you pointed out, if something doesn't work, you should not be scared of a change. Even if it mean to delete everything what you did and start over.
- michalsobel 12y agoYou're absolutely right. Media presents startup scene with success story for every day. It kinda seems that you can make success out of everything. Obviously that's bullshit. But ofcourse it's not Califronia or SV's startup problem. This was just my idiocy to not to question why do exactly this and even if it makes sense. Well, this was really expensive knowledge.
- mgkimsal 12y agoMost startup media coverage is techporn. People can become addicted to the startup-life fantasy much like they can become addicted to porn. Doesn't happen to everyone, and I've seen a lot of success in my peers, but I've also seen a lot of the downside too, and that rarely gets coverage.
- michalsobel 12y agoExactly. If you don't know what you do, it's gambling.